Dark Minds is one that adds in deeper layers of knowledge to the overall expansion of this series universe in terms of understanding the AI beings and how they are involved with the abduction of the women. And their own enslavement by the Tecran and struggles to become aware and free themselves.
Imogene Peters is in a different situation than the previous women. She’s been in a secret facility and she desperate situation as she escapes is suspenseful and emotional. It’s so well written that the reader feels right there with her in her desperate flight to escape her captors.
Captain Camlar Kalor, the Grih captain who was in charge of a mission to rescue a human woman, is captured and is taken prisoner along with his crew.
This plot really differs from the previous storylines as does how the AI or thinking machine becomes involved.
Gripping plot, and emotional twists.
One of my favorites in a series I’m loving.
A another winner from an author who’s becoming an auto read.
Imogen Peters knows she’s a pawn. She’s been abducted from Earth, held prisoner, and abducted again. So when she gets a chance at freedom, she takes it with both hands, not realizing that doing so will turn her from pawn to kingmaker.
Captain Camlar Kalor expected to meet an Earth woman on his current mission, he just thought he’d be meeting her on Larga Ways, under the protection of his Battle Center colleague. Instead, he and Imogen are thrown together as prisoners in the hold of a Class 5 battleship. When he works out she’s not the woman who sparked his mission, but another abductee, Cam realizes his investigation just got a lot more complicated, and the nations of the United Council just took a step closer to war.
Imogen’s out of her depth in this crazy mind game playing out all around her, and she begins to understand her actions will have a massive impact on all the players. But she’s good at mind games. She’s been playing them since she was abducted.
Guess they should have left her minding her own business back on Earth…
I really enjoyed Dark Deeds and am finding that, for me, it improves with each new book and expansion into the series arc.
Yes, I finished the series. And the author does answer many questions about the series, like why only women being abducted, as various plots unfold.
Fiona Russell, the second woman found by the Grih, is another who’s undergone extreme hardships after her abduction from her home.
Each woman’s story is vastly different but their ingenuity, bravery and courage under incredible circumstances is portrayed credibly and realistically. Fiona’s battle to survive and get away from her captors is suspense filled and emotional.
Class 5, Eazi comes into play here, along with Grih battleship captain Hal Vakeri, who rescues Fee from both the Krik and the Garmann slavers.
The galactic political system and high intrigue between the Tecran and their allies the Garmman and Krik , who have violated the treaty and laws on sentient beings rights , the other worlds in the galactic United Council, is a tension filled, complex plot. Often one with betrayals and conflicts within the same groups and societies that are involved with the sides officially saving the women.
The relationships that evolve between the women and the different AI or thinking systems (a really awkward name) vary greatly. Here it’s between Fee and Eazi, and I really enjoyed the interaction and end solution for both of them.
The singing aspect is still important and is worked into each of their stories as they find out the importance and impact of their abilities to sing in Grih culture.
I’d love to know more about the history behind the IA scientist, the wars, and the Grih Class 5 they became.
Love the series, how it’s developing, and each new woman being introduced.
Far from home . . . Fiona Russell has been snatched from Earth, imprisoned and used as slave labor, but nothing about her abduction makes sense. When she’s rescued by the Grih, she realizes there’s a much bigger game in play than she could ever have imagined, and she’s right in the middle of it.
Far from safe . . . Battleship captain Hal Vakeri is chasing down pirates when he stumbles across a woman abducted from Earth. She’s the second one the Grih have found in two months, and her presence is potentially explosive in the Grih’s ongoing negotiations with their enemies, the Tecran. The Tecran and the Grih are on the cusp of war, and Fiona might just tip the balance.
Far from done . . . Fiona has had to bide her time while she’s been a prisoner, pretending to be less than she is, but when the chance comes for her to forge her own destiny in the new world she’s found herself in, she grabs it with both hands. After all, actions speak louder than words.
Dark Horse, the first book in the science fiction series Class 5 by Michelle Diener, was given several awards for science fiction in 2016, one of the reasons I grabbed it up.
I’m always curious to see how well science fiction stories will age from publication point, given their author’s storyline, scientific elements, and any imaginative alien aspects that are presented here.
I’m really enjoying this series and growing groups of characters. While there’s some overall series plot elements that I have been questioning, the characters and storytelling just draws one into the narrative and each women’s struggle to adapt and survive her new life in space among aliens.
The first story is that. The first for multiple characters, cultures and the beginning of a major galactic mystery and heinous crime that will take the entire series to investigate and unravel.
Yes, I’m on book 2 now.
Rose McKenzie, a linguistic professor, has been abducted by the Tecran, tortured and experimented on. The one who saves her? The Class 5 Battleship, Sazo, who itself has been a prisoner of the same race and needs Rose to free it. They form a formidable alliance and friendship to free themselves.
Here Sazo is called a thinking machine, which I found unwieldy. But most importantly it’s one of only 5 in existence that survived a AI war in which they were killed off and banned.
So it’s not just about Rose’s recovery from her ordeal, her trauma and her struggles to adapt but it’s Sazo’s too. With Rose’s guidance, learning empathy, emotions, and what its emergence as a self aware being means. To itself and those around it. Especially when so many mean it harm because of prejudice and past history.
Their relationship and dynamics is layered and has a depth that is emotionally strong with the reader. As well as containing some surprises.
The aliens are humanoid, the Grif especially with their elf life ears. Maybe this aspect of the series will expand into more complex worlds and less human like aliens as I get into it, but for now, it’s just human-like aliens in space. Something I see quite a bit of in space exploration fiction. When it’s not cat-aliens in space. Wish there were more imagination used here in this capacity. Not that I don’t enjoy the characters, I do.
The references are fun, the characters are engaging and the plots well executed. Things that i would thought were underutilized were later shown by the author to be a long-term storyline. Loved this.
I originally thought the author missed an opportunity for Rose as a professor with the sociological aspect of singing both species looking at songs and singing from very different perspectives. From an Earth cultures/ peoples perspective, singing and songs are viewed as an integral part of life, from lullabies to dirges, entertainment to dance. The Grih are at the other end of the spectrum, seeing songs and the few who sing them as solemn rituals , reverent and cherished.
However, Diener is using this idea of singing and songs as a series thread that multiple characters are using to express themselves and create bonds between species. In some cases, beginning to see a cultural or ideological shift,for better or worse.
Its elements like this, along with engaging characters and just plain old terrific storytelling that has me hooked.
No it doesn’t always science, but it’s highly enjoyable. I’m recommending it. And I’m onto the third!
Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she’s made a powerful ally–a fellow prisoner with whom she’s formed a strong bond. Sazo’s an artificial intelligence. He’s saved her from captivity and torture, but he’s also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided.
Captain Dav Jallan doesn’t know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he’s not going to complain. The only problem is, everyone on board is dead, except for one strange, new alien being. She calls herself Rose. She seems small and harmless, but less and less about her story is adding up, and Dav has a bad feeling his crew, and maybe even the four planets, are in jeopardy. The Class 5’s owners, the Tecran, look set to start a war to get it back and Dav suspects Rose isn’t the only alien being who survived what happened on the Class 5. And whatever else is out there is playing its own games.
In this race for the truth, he’s going to have to go against his leaders and trust the dark horse.
Winner of a SFR Galaxy Award 2016 and the Prism Award 2016 for Best Futuristic.
The Class 5 science fiction series is set in a galaxy where Earth women are abducted and thrust into conflicts between alien civilizations. The United Council governs multiple planets, while powerful AI battleships known as Class 5s navigate tensions between warring species. The Tecran have been abducting humans in violation of UC law, and the Grih Battle Center works to rescue abductees and prevent interstellar war. Each woman becomes a catalyst in diplomatic crises that could shift the balance of power between nations on the brink of conflict.
Exploring themes of survival, agency, and adaptation far from home, the series blends military science fiction with character-driven narratives. The abducted women must forge alliances, navigate political machinations, and fight for their own destinies while caught between species racing toward war. With AI battleships as both allies and unpredictable forces, the series examines individuals who refuse to remain pawns in larger conflicts. Perfect for readers seeking space opera featuring women who take matters into their own hands when facing impossible odds.
The author does a remarkable job of seamlessly flowing the end of each book into the next, so if they end in cliffhangers, they are immediately resolved and the reader rewarded with a new chapter of the journey and a sense of purpose.
This author has become a new favorite of mine and I’ll admit I’ve blown through this series. It’s fantastic. Now to catch up on my reviews.
Age of Deception sees Kira caught up in another web of plots from all factions that see her as their best player in the galactic political power struggle and potential new war that is about to begin.
From one house to the another, one of her parents to her father’s clan, now it’s as a daughter of House Roake who has staked their claim and wants her to prove herself one of their race and warrior class.
White’s plot has a multitude of strong storylines that she continues to explore, among them the effects of the horrors of the abuse, violence and experimentation that the children of the Sorrowing underwent. Whether it’s Kira or Jin or any other of the lost, bit by bit, what actually happened to them is slowly revealed. And that works so more powerfully than if we get the information all at once.
The political intrigue is complex and another aspect of the story that has its own twists. Because between the different planetary systems and ruling powers, and what roles each played in the last war, the intrigue and structures are still being rolled out. It’s riveting and suspenseful.
The best is the torn relationships and divided dynamics between species and that of Kira and her new family and that of her old found family of military crew, the Curs. Humans are not regarded by other species as anything but weak animals. But the Curs are special.
Kira with a long history with the Curs, has a heartbreaking secret, and Jin, a being who is regarded as “demonic “ on the new world, is the incredible complicated elements here. Highly emotional, physical and beautifully written in every aspect of this book, it’s a page turner in the best way.
White juggles many storylines and characters without losing the depth of plot or character dimension. We’re watching this, exploring the new territory, culture and world just as the characters do. It’s fabulous.
And as it ends, on a cliffhanger. It’s easy to swing right into the next book and right into the plot without a hitch.
Which is what I did.
Highly recommended. A real winner for lovers of strong women, great storytelling and fast paced action.
War hero and daughter to two Houses, Kira is just beginning to learn how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Agreeing to accompany her father’s people back to their homeworld, Kira Forrest prepares for the fight of her life. She’s agreed to undertake the Trial of the Broken, a rite of passage every member of her father’s House must pass. It offers a path to independence and freedom that is too tempting to deny.
Not everyone welcomes this lost daughter of Roake. There are those who fear what her presence might bring to light. Betrayal stalks the halls of Kira’s birthplace—its roots embedded deep in the events that claimed her parent’s lives and set her on her current path.
Walking the wire’s edge between truth and deception will test the person Kira has become as she separates ally from betrayer. An old enemy has put into motion a plan that could topple the balance of power in the universe. Letting them succeed spells doom—but the price might be more than Kira is willing to pay.
I found this series and author by accident but I’m thrilled that I did. Rules of Redemption, the first book in The Firebird Chronicles by T. A. White, is a absolutely fantastic read and gripping space tale of a woman seeking knowledge and revenge against those who both tortured her and others and who she fought against in a galactic war.
Kira Forest, along with her AI companion, Jin, is now a space scavenger. But during a visit to a space station to retrofit her ship, a selfless move by her ends up bringing her back into the attention of those she’s been avoiding.
I consumed this book. Up til the early morning hours and then started reading the next because Kira and Jin’s saga has me completely hooked.
I’m not going to spoil anything but there so much to this. Author T.A. White is laying out the story arc so that Kira’s past and Jin’s is slowly revealed over the series, as events in the books make it clear what happened to them.
It’s alien invasion, galactic wars, alien abductions, genetic engineering and manipulation, so much more. Various alien societies and cultures and their own historical traditions that impact on Kira and her people.
It’s funny, dramatic, highly emotional, action packed with great sequences of battles and fights and even sentient sea beings.
But my favorite relationship? Kira and Jin, the AI, a tightly connected, deeply engaging dynamic that’s still unfolding. I’m holding my breath as to how this relationship will end.
So many mysteries, so many complications, and expanding casts.
I don’t think this series is going to be long enough.
The war everyone thought was over is just beginning.
Kira Forrest is a survivor. She’s risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees.
After her ship takes damage, she’s forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences.
Kira’s existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann—a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans. Winning her freedom should be easy, but a powerful and relentless Tuann warrior stands in her way. Deceiving him seems impossible, especially when he strays dangerously close to secrets she struggles to hide.
Can Kira reconcile the pain of her past with the possibilities of her future? The fate of two races depends on her success.
The war everyone thought was over is just beginning.
Kira Forrest is a survivor. She’s risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees.
After her ship takes damage, she’s forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences.
Kira’s existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann—a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans. Winning her freedom should be easy, but a powerful and relentless Tuann warrior stands in her way. Deceiving him seems impossible, especially when he strays dangerously close to secrets she struggles to hide.
Can Kira reconcile the pain of her past with the possibilities of her future? The fate of two races depends on her success.
The second boxed set, 11 books, are set after Bethany Anne and her group take flight through the gate to space and start their own adventures with aliens and their own galactic empire.
It’s space exploration and Buck Rogers action adventure with vampires, werewolves and AI companion spaceships. Unlike the more innocent Buck Rogers and his arch nemesis. the Emperor Ming, Queen Bitch Bethany Anne and her troops often use their own powers and enormous weapons to attack their enemies in the hundreds or thousands. It’s a bloody but still often bloodless battles she wages in book after book with only one or two characters actually being lost.
Bethany Anne and her friends and family are, for the most part, immortal, and the time frame of the series jumps forward decades then hundreds of years later, without significant changes in their lives or personalities. Without any real development or depth of growth in the relationships or dynamics here, it all becomes very one note action driven.
For me, it lessens any real tension or connection and let me treat these characters and their storylines as a fun romp through space. Which I did
Another thing that happens is the acquisition of more and more characters, especially as the original characters have families (we don’t know when it happens sometimes). Suddenly there’s grandchildren and adults who belong to, I don’t know, someone. And the cast is muddy with people who honestly we have no clue who they are.
It’s bang, weapons, where’s the enemy, what’s Bethany Anne up to now sort of plot and high stakes energy. Fun space entertainment.
I recommend it as such. But don’t expect anything else from it.
Bethany Anne has been notified there is a spaceship inside the system…but they can’t find it. Is it Kurtherian, someone else?
The governments have to be told about aliens, which sparks a worldwide effort by Governments to find what TQB has…
Oh, and Eric wants to date Gabrielle but he wants her to know he can protect her if need be. But his idea on how? Well, let’s just say it might not be the best solution.
Continue the story with the last 10 books in The Kurtherian Gambit series and step off into the continuing series, The Kurtherian Endgame, with this massive boxed set.
Included in this boxed set:
WE HAVE CONTACT
My Ride is a Bitch
Don’t Cross This Line
Never Submit
Never Surrender
Forever Defend
Might Makes Right
Ahead Full
Capture Death
Life Goes On
Payback Is A Bitch (The Kurtherian Endgame #1)
NOTE: This boxed set contains cursing. Perhaps humorous cursing, but cursing nevertheless. If this offends you, I don’t suggest reading this book.
I have reviewed books 1-4 and then said, I am just going to binge it the easiest way possible. That’s a collection of books, and luckily with such an extensive series of novels that Michael Anderle put out 3 collections but he also wrote a 4-book series that is a necessity for Collection 2 as their events are of utmost significance to each other.
That’s the series that focuses on vampire Michael and his adventures on earth as he attempts to make his way to Bethany Anne. Those four books happen within the same time line as the second Collection.
That author is a busy writer as this goes from 2014 to 2024, maybe even past that.
Here it’s centered around Bethany Anne, her journey to becoming the Queen Bitch, the organization she establishes and the battle to escape to space.
The novels are all quick reads, flowing naturally one into the next with all the high stakes and adventure energy of the early Buck Rogers movies. Or maybe the Adam West Batman tv series.
There’s werewolves, vampires, secret societies, government agencies, crazy space ships and AI beings along with genetically modified humans doing battle with magic and robots and aliens. Bloodshed, deaths, sometimes by the thousands, but it’s removed from any real emotion or connection with those events as we don’t know or haven’t built up any foundation for a real cause to be engaged with anything happening here. It’s all very one dimensional. All actions sequence scenarios. Which is fine because that’s what you are expecting.
All framed out by an action packed, fast paced adventure narrative that’s just short of a “KAPOW” and a “BAM” and an Emperor Ming.
Highly entertaining, and I find myself blowing through them like narrative Bon bons.
Space exploration that’s fun, not taking too seriously but highly enjoyable.
Her time is running out. His reign is coming to an end.
The UnknownWorld is on the cusp of gaining a new Queen, one who sees humanity in shades of gray. But will this world accept her? With her special-ops team and a legacy of secrets, Bethany Anne must untangle the web Michael leaves behind.
As she steps into her new role, the question isn’t just whether she will survive but whether the UnknownWorld will splinter under her reign or unite in unforeseen harmony?
Dive into The Kurtherian Saga with the first 11 books of the bestselling urban fantasy-meets-scifi series!
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Die young or live forever. What’s your choice?
Bethany Anne Reynolds isn’t your typical government cold case investigator. Known for her fiery temper and creative cursing that would make even the battle-hardened blush, her pursuit of justice is borderline obsessive…
And now, with her own life ticking away due to the same rare blood disorder that claimed her mother, her fight for the defenseless becomes even more urgent.
Her last hope? A world-weary vampire. Michael, bound by his legendary inflexible honor, has ruled the UnknownWorld with an iron fist for over a millennium. Exhausted and on the brink, he finds in Bethany Anne a fire that could reignite the supernatural world—or destroy it.
As Michael prepares to pass his mantle, he wonders: in choosing Bethany Anne, is he saving his world or thrusting it into deeper chaos?
The UnknownWorld is on the cusp of gaining a new Queen, one who sees humanity in shades of gray. But will this world accept her? With her special-ops team and a legacy of secrets, Bethany Anne must untangle the web Michael leaves behind.
As she steps into her new role, the question isn’t just whether she will survive but whether the UnknownWorld will splinter under her reign or unite in unforeseen harmony?
Unleash the power of choice and change humanity’s destiny.
Included in this boxed set:
Death Becomes Her
Queen Bitch
Love Lost
Bite This
Never Forsaken
Under My Heel
Kneel Or Die
We Will Build
It’s Hell To Choose
Release The Dogs of War
Sued For Peace
Unleash the power of choice and change humanity’s destiny. Click ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Read for Free’ to join Bethany Anne’s epic journey!
NOTE: This boxed set contains cursing. Perhaps humorous cursing, but cursing nevertheless. If this offends you, I don’t suggest reading these books.
Under My Heel sees a turn of the series and characters towards a different direction. It heralds the end game of the mission that is more current political government based and sees Bethany Anne switch her team’s vision towards a new world view.
But first, let’s target David, Michael’s dark son who’s focused on domestic domination, while simultaneously getting the new global agenda ready to go.
Under My Heel delivers up some great twists and surprises. I really love her inner Guard. And Stephen, of course, I would love to see Stephen develop more fully into her new dominant adviser.
Michael needs more narrative presence and depth than he’s given to be able to be a credible presence. He’s not that yet. And the role the author seems to have planned for him isn’t viable in the current circumstances. He needs more definition of character than he currently has.
Beware that there are character deaths here and within the series.
Highly recommended. Hey I just went ahead and bought all the box sets so there you go.
David is only adding to the conflagration by setting a trap, one our team will trip to save those people still alive.
There is one thing every enemy of Bethany Anne finds out: they will be ground under her heels.
Now, something is heating up between Bethany Anne and Michael, and it isn’t her anger over him leaving her behind.
Well, much.
Further, the Patriarch is learning there might be someone worth sticking around for in his future.
If she would just stop being so hard-headed.
David believes he is smarter than the rest. Now, he must fight both the Patriarch and the Queen Bitch.
Are his days numbered?
Go up and click Read for Free or ‘Buy Now’ and continue The Kurtherian Gambit.
“I love a good story especially if it can make me laugh, cry, cheer, and a host of other emotions. So far in this series I have hit them all.”
Read the series one Amazon Reviewer says: “I have absolutely DEVOURED this series in a period of 36 hrs, and am considering knocking on the author’s door to ask him to hurry up with the rest of the series.
NOTE: This book contains cursing. Perhaps humorous cursing, but cursing nevertheless. If this offends you, I don’t suggest reading this book.
It’s time to take to the seas, start building a navy, a multi-paranormal species army and gamble on a AI that might be able to help you when the scientists working on it get it done.
But first there’s Anton to deal with, his evil zombies and plans for vampire domination. Plus the missing Michael.
The author’s twists on how vampires and werewolves were created using alien nanotechnology is a fascinating element that’s going to be explored further as the series continues and we learn more about the origins of the spacecraft and its history.
They need to grab a ship, figure out who is trying to dig into her businesses, get their hands around the potential for creating an A.I. and the ongoing mess with Anton and South America.
One of these days, she will get a break. Fortunately for us, it wasn’t today.
Got an attitude? That’s nice. Just don’t show it around Bethany Anne. When she slaps a face off, the whole head goes with it.
Bite This, The Kurtherian Gambit 04 follows the story after Love Lost. If you haven’t read the preceding books YOU PRETTY MUCH HAVE TO. These are a series and many of the characters have been introduced in preceding volumes.
Amazon Reviewer MistyDawn says: “I’m surprised. I thought when I read the first book in this series, that it couldn’t get better…. I was wrong. I read almost continuously, and for the past year and a half, I haven’t read a series (or even one) book that I’ve loved as much. With such loyal characters, friendship, and badassery… just don’t wait to start reading these. So just, just wow.”
**Please note, as mentioned in another review, there is flagrantly foul language in this novel. The main character does not have a problem with cussing, just uninspired cussing.
This book begins with a deep emotional loss for Bethany Anne. It’s not one that will register with the reader until a couple of books later with the same narrative impact when we meet his widow.
But this murder sets in motion a series of events that has Bethany Anne further developing her team, enlarging her plans for revenge and preparing for the next phase of her journey.
It’s multiple stages, storylines and points of view and it all works.
When one of Bethany Anne’s loved one gets caught in the crossfire between her and the Forsaken, she goes rabid in rage.
** AMAZON Top 100 Best Selling Author **
She doesn’t believe in seeking peace and harmony, but rather revenge and mayhem.
Continuing the story of Bethany Anne and TQB team, Love Lost picks up after Queen Bitch. She works to complete both her business and military team leads and we meet Stephen’s daughter Gabrielle as plans are made to exact revenge South of the Border.
You don’t touch one of Bethany Anne’s loved ones and get away with it, no matter how far away you live.
**Please note, as mentioned in another review, there is flagrantly foul language in this novel. The main character does not have a problem with cussing, just uninspired cussing.
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NOTE: This book contains cursing. Perhaps humorous cursing, but cursing nevertheless. If this offends you, I don’t suggest reading this book.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 